Darling Isabelle is 3! (Update from May 2013)

My sweet darling girl turned three this spring, and she gracefully made the transition. I still have heart pangs when I see a glimmer of that baby face peeking out from her now more child like face.  She is 100% girl, loves everything pink, cute, and cuddly.

For her 3rd birthday she settled on  a Dora theme.  Sticking to our backyard birthday style we decided to have a Dora extravaganza!

Happy birthday my darling!!!

Prepare for the updates!!!

I've been away for quite a while but I still want to log memories here.  While I've been away we've still carried on life as normal and managed to capture a bit of it on camera.  I will warn my followers and subscribers that I may fill up your in-boxes for a while!

Happy reading, bear with me please!

We're Home!!

We've done it finally!  We are moved in! Hallelujah!

After extensive renovations on our previous house and our now current home, we are finally settling in!  There is still plenty of unpacking to do but it's starting to feel homey again.

I had all but forgotten my laptop, using only my phone to do Facebook updates and such during all of this hustle and bustle.  To be honest my hands are feeling a little unfamiliar with the keyboard still.

In the time I've been away from my blog we have:
Renovated our old home and found renters.

Renovated our new home and moved all of our belongings into it.

Went on vacation less than a week after we moved in. (Crazy right?  I must admit, it was nice to be able to leave our mess behind and block out all of the work that lay ahead. )  We needed the break to spend every moment just being a family.

Isabelle wants to take a class for everything. "Ballet class" "Singing class"... gymnastics has started a snowball effect for recreational learning.

Fiona has a tooth!!  7 months old and has her first tooth. *sniffle* I feel like it's an end of an era.  Tooth number 2 is just under the surface. *sniffle*

Corey and I are soon to celebrate 5 years married!  So far we've had a large lobster boil to celebrate and when the actual day arrives maybe we can steal away for a date... who knows?

None of what we accomplished would be possible without family.  We are truly blessed with so many loved ones caring for us and giving us their time and energy.

Big Changes

Well big news for our little family:

We're moving!  

We have a lot of work ahead of us moving to our new home and preparing our current home to be rented out.
I'll try to stop by here when I have a chance but in the meantime, please pray for us during the chaos of renovating, packing, and finding a responsible renter.

God bless y'all.

Soaking It All In

Maintaining a home, food schedules,  nap routines, play dates, potty breaks, cake orders, and more can all turn into a day to day battle to stay on top of it all.  I'm not sure if it's a second time Mommy thing or an "older is wiser" phenomena but I've found that I'm able to now, more than ever, just sit, relax, and soak in these moments that I know are only here for a short while.

Photography by the wonderful Jessica Faith Photogaphy.  You can find her blog here.

Adventures in Cloth Diapering: Part Two

I had started our diapering journey during Isabelle's infancy.  Being a babe with extremely sensitive skin we had so many issues with disposable diapers("sposies"). Some brands would make her poor bottom break out in acne almost instantly.  We finally settled on Huggies diapers, pre-fold cloth diapers with diaper pins, and the occasional homemade cloth diaper.

Isabelle in her homemade cloth diaper made by her Mimi (my Mom).

I used the pre-folds for as long as I could bear it, my fear of diaper pins never lessened.  Always so terrified I would actually prick that sweet baby skin I was very hesitant to use pre-folds whenever we left the house.

Isabelle is potty trained now but since Fiona's arrival I had made a commitment to cloth diaper full time and I did so for many reasons:

1. Fiona is allergic to ALL disposables.
2. In trying to raise a family as healthy as possible I find it better to stay away from artificial products.
3. It's better for the environment.  I've read that disposable diapers can last up to 300-500 years in landfills. No thank you.
4. Saving money.  It's a one time purchase and although it may seem like a lot up front, if you're changing diapers as regularly as you should it's estimated that you can save up to $4800 per child.
5. They can be used on more than one child.
6. Cloth diapers are very often sold in gently used condition.  I've joined some cloth diaper swap sites and it's incredible what you can recoup out of diapers once you're done with them.

Fiona had some gastrointestinal issues that required some medicine that would ruin cloth diapers so we had to make due until then.  But, now that we have those issues cleared up we have been in cloth full time!

They are of course more maintenance that sposies, they have very specific methods for care and washing but that's a whole separate post.  I'm fully enjoying all the money we're saving and the idea of never buying another diaper.  But most of all, I love Fiona's perfect, happy, baby bottom.  

Sweet baby Fi, 3 months.

Fiona being super cheesy, 4 months old!

Oh Yeah...

Life has carried me away, far far away from my blog.  I feel like a stranger on my own site now.

• Isabelle is now three.  Fiercely independent.  Incredible.
• Fiona is smiling, giggling, squealing, blowing bubbles, weighs a hefty 20 pounds, and can wear 12 month clothing... she's 4 months old.
• Corey is done with classes for the summer.  This Mama is thrilled to have him home every night after work!
• I turned 25, joined a gym, and am in the process of starting my own business. More on that later.

Peace In the Labor

"Purpose is found in those quiet moments when no one but God sees the work of your hands" - Darlene Schacht

Recently a Facebook friend posted an article discussing how when raising a family, life is not always about a "fair" work load among the parents.  Now when I had originally read this article I felt indignant.  I understood it to mean: Life is not fair. It's your job, so deal with it and quit whining.  What!?  How dare some random blogger tell me that my feelings/stress/workload are insignificant.  My job is 24/7, no sick days, or vacations.  Although I love my children I strongly dislike laundry, budget making, dishes, cooking and cleaning as a chore. And truth be told, a girl deserves a shower! Hmph.
But then....
I came across this article: Embracing Your Own Cross.  And the title quote struck me:

“If we all threw our crosses in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.”

Part of me thinks that it was fated for me to stumble upon both of these on the same day.  I started to rethink my knee jerk reaction to the first article.  Is this my cross? Truly, where is my burden?  Where within myself do I feel the need to fairly balance the daily requirements of my homemaking?  Why do I feel this way?

I assure you my burden is not in my labor, it's in my perspective.

If I have honestly chosen the care and raising of my family as my vocation, my perspective needs tweaking.  No where in the definition of dedication or faithfulness does it mention fairness.  As much as a I had to surrender my body to laboring in childbirth, so I must surrender my spirit to the joyful purpose of my vocation.  In this life and the next the rewards are unparalleled.

"Similarly, older women should behave as befits religious people, with no scandal-mongering and no addiction to wine -- they must be the teachers of right behavior and show younger women how they should love their husbands and love their children, how they must be sensible and chaste, and how to work in their homes, and be gentle, and obey their husbands, so that the message of God is not disgraced." - Titus 2:3-5 

Instagram - Our life at a glance...

Isabelle's first hair cut by yours truly.

Just rocking and eating some grapes

My idea of heaven.

Sleeping in the swing.

Sumo baby

Mimi (my Mom) and her girls

Couch time cuddles

Daddy is always in high demand.

Just a stroll with my babies on a beautiful day.

The angels that I get to wake up to every morning.

Mimi and Fiona

Proof that Fiona has a neck ;-)

A treasure trove of flowers that Isabelle picked for me.

A walk on a cool sunny day with Daddy.

"Look Mommy, I'm Fiona"

My bright eyed girl.

Some quality afternoon reading.

Squishy baby smooches!

2 month old Fiona

best days of my life.

Sneaky sleeping smiles

Fiona and I couldn't take the suspense of the JMU tournament game

smiling girl!

Add caption

I love my job.

Sister snuggles

Bath time!  Big sister is on the scene to help

Smiling at her big sister

Isabelle's painted toddler toes

Photography by Isabelle

Some naked baby time.